Government to register all vehicles in the country afresh

Government is set to do a countrywide registration of all the vehicles, the Nile Post has learnt.

According to Winston Katushabe, the Commissioner of Transport and Road Safety in the Ministry of Works and Transport, a new vehicle system is in the pipeline and will be integrated to the Uganda Revenue Authority, Police and ministry systems.

“The ministry will come up with a system to register all vehicles and also detect every vehicle entering the country,”Katushabe said on Monday during a function to launch the electronic Express Penalty System.

“We shall be able to know how many vehicles are in the country.”

The new database will also make it easy to change ownership of vehicles, a process which is currently bureaucratic.

Electronic number plates

President Museveni last year said as part of its efforts to reduce crime, government will introduce electronic number plates for all vehicles and motorcycles.

“We shall require every motorist and motorcyclist to have electronic number plates with an electronic signal in them - to be incurred at the cost of every owner. This will enable us to know which vehicle or piki piki (motorcycle) was in a particular area when crime was committed,”Museveni said during the State of the Nation address in 2018.

“We need new helmets with illuminated numbers at the front and at the back. These helmets will be registered and put in the central processing systems of Police.”

According to the Commissioner for Transport and Road Safety in the Works Ministry, after registering vehicles and put in central system, it would be easy to track them on their electronic number plates.

“We will be able to know where the vehicle is and its driver.”

He said that government has finalised plans to table the Traffic and Road Safety Amendment bill that will help reduce carnage on the road.

“When passed, motorists will be allocated points on driving permits and if you commit an offence, the points will be deducted,”Katushabe said.

“If the points are over, one won’t be able to drive the vehicle for a specified period of time as a punishment. This way we shall be able to encourage responsible driving.”

The bill was approved by cabinet in December 2018 and awaiting to be tabled before parliament.

Electronic Express Penalty System

According to officials the new database will be reconciled with the electronic Express Penalty System and this way, motorists will be easily monitored.

The new system will also see data of all driving permit holders from Face Technologies integrated with the ones for   Police and Uganda Revenue Authority to help track defaulters.

The entire system will also be linked to the CCTV system which was rolled out throughout the country in a bid to overhaul the entire traffic monitoring system using latest technology.